William Shenstone Quotes

Zealous men are ever displaying to you the strength of their belief, while judicious men are shewing you the grounds of it.

Some men are called sagacious, merely on account of their avarice: whereas a child can clench its fist the moment it is born.

Every good poet includes a critic; the reverse will not hold.

Sloth views the tow'rs of fame with envious eyes;
Desirous still, still impotent to rise.

Let the gull'd fool the toil of war pursue,
Where bleed the many to enrich the few.

Love can be founded upon nature only; or the appearance of it.

Second thoughts are oftentimes the very worst of all thoughts.

A fool and his words are soon parted; a man of genius and his money.

I trimm'd my lamp, consumed the midnight oil.

Love is a pleasing, but a various clime!

My banks they are furnish’d with bees,
Whose murmur invites one to sleep.

I have found out a gift for my fair;
I have found where the wood-pigeons breed.

While we labour to subdue our passions, we should take care not to extinguish them. Subduing our passions, is disengaging ourselves from the world; to which however, Whilst we reside in it, we must always bear relation; and we may detach ourselves to such a degree as to pass an useless and insipid life, which we were not meant to do. Our existence here is at least one part of a system.<p>A man has generally the good or ill qualities which he attributes to mankind.

Let us be careful to distinguish modesty, which is ever amiable, from reserve, which is only prudent.

The fund of sensible discourse is limited; that of jest and badinerie is infinite.